The six of us were exhausted by the time we were walking back through the cave toward Ironcastle. Out of all of us, Iris had been pushed the hardest. Maxwell, Piper, and Aria were of the mind that if we were going to take her with us, we were going to make her stronger as efficiently as possible, and Iris hadn't complained once about her treatment. I was a little hesitant at the pace they were pushing her at, but as long as she got time to rest, I suppose it was okay so far. I would just need to make sure things aren't taken too far.

  During our trip to the dungeon, I had been doing my best to adapt to having my ears and tail out the entire time. Luckily, however the magic worked, my tail didn't interfere with my clothes much either. Anywhere the transformation overlapped with my clothes, they just vanished in that space. If I used my partial transformation, it looked like I just had a regular hole in my pants where the tail should be. After some trial and error, I was able to will the smoke part of the transformation away too. It took a bit of concentration, and I wasn't perfect at hiding it yet, but I thought it was good enough to pass for now. Thus, I had ears on my head and a tail poking out of my rear when we finally left the dungeon.

  The orange light of the afternoon sun hit us when we exited the cave. It was a bit disorienting after being in the foggy field all day, but it was nice to feel the sun on my skin again. We were back in the courtyard outside of the Ironcastle dungeon but the the atmosphere here was completely different. There were about twice as many soldiers here now than there had been when we came in, and they were milling around looking at the people leaving the dungeon exit.

  "Come this way, please. We need to ask you a few questions," one of the soldiers said as we walked through the portcullis. The hair on the back of my neck stood up when he said that. Something was up and we were being singled out for it. The soldier that pulled us aside was a muscular beastkin man with mostly human features other than the large smooth horns coming out of his head. I'm a little upset that I wasn't carrying my axe with me openly... but it was probably better that it was still in my ring. Things could escalate really quickly if we started fighting the city's soldiers.

  Maxwell and I glanced at each other before our group started following the soldier. There were whispers about our group from all over the courtyard. So many that I was only able to pick up fragments of their quiet conversations. I wasn't sure what this was about. I didn't hear any whispers that would lead me to believe we were getting blamed for anything, but the situation was concerning. The soldier led us to an office and brought us inside, where six other guards were waiting. They were a mix of draco and drakken soldiers.

  "What's this about?" Maxwell asked.

  "We're looking for a group of delvers that match your description. Two red-headed humans and a fox beastkin woman," he replied.

  I furrowed my brows and turned to my friends. This... wasn't about me? Okay, that sounds quite self-centered, but can you blame me? I was used to all of the secrets and... problems frankly being focused on me.

  "Tell me your names," the soldier said.

  There was a bit of a pause before Maxwell answered first. All of us said our names except for Luna, who Maxwell spoke for instead in this instance.

  "I see... We have some additional questions for you, so we'll have to take you up to the Trimfall castle. Before you do anything foolish, I would take your hand off of your weapon, Maxwell. None of you are in trouble, but you will be if you resist," the soldier said with a dangerous glare.

  "If we're not in trouble, does that mean we can refuse to come?" Aria asked.

  "The only ones required to come with us are these three. If the rest of you would rather go back to your inn, you're more than welcome to," he said.

  Aria looked angry. "That wasn't what I was asking."

  The soldier shrugged. "This isn't a request. It was an order from the dragon royalty. These three are required to accompany us to the castle. As their companions, you may come with them, or you may leave. But these three will come with us."

  I looked at Maxwell, who met my eyes. It was perhaps foolish, but I was ready to fight here if he told me to.

  Maxwell slowly removed his hand from his sword and sighed. "You assert we are not under arrest? The... dragon royalty just wants to meet us for some reason?"

  The soldier visibly relaxed his shoulders and smiled. "Correct. As far as I know, none of you are in any trouble. The only thing that I've been told is this was the whim of the royal who's visiting our city right now. As much as I would like... clarity on our actions, I wasn't given any. Merely told to find you and take you to the castle... by force if necessary."

  "I see..." Maxwell said slowly. "Will we be required to disarm ourselves?"

  He shook his head. "I have not been given any orders to do so unless you resisted."

  Maxwell glanced at Piper, who nodded. He sighed again. "Fine, we'll come with." He turned around to look at me. "What about you three? It seems like this is only about the three of us... whatever this is."

  I shook my head. "I'm coming with, no question."

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  Aria nodded. "Me too, we're sticking together."

  I looked down at Iris, who wilted a bit at my attention. "It's... not like I have anywhere else to go... All of this will be fine though, right?"

  "You can go back to the inn alone if you like. I can give you some money," I told her.

  She hesitated before shaking her head. "I'm better off sticking together with all of you..."

  "Great, I'm glad to hear that all of you are complying. If you will follow me, and keep your hands off your weapons, the trip to Trimfall Castle will be pleasant for all of us."

  The group of six soldiers followed us out of the building and formed a circle around us, only to be joined by more than a dozen more soldiers who all escorted our group to the castle. It looked nearly like a parade as our large group walked through the city streets, forcing the bystanders to move off to the side and watch us walk past. None of the soldiers were individually as strong as us if my read on their magic was correct, but working together, it would be difficult to escape this situation now.

  ("Luna, do you have any idea what all of this is about?") I asked.

  There was a bit of a pause before she replied. ("The only thing I can think of is... killing my father after he tried to kill me first is catching up with us.")

  ("Your father... tried to kill you?") I asked hesitantly. I knew that she spoke as if she had hated him, but...

  Luna's hand drifted up and pulled her collar back so she could trace her fingers over her scars. ("One night, my father had been heavily drinking. He was raging, angry about something. This happened often enough that I had long gotten used to ignoring his rambling. It rarely made any sense anyway. I had just gotten back to the manor after dark and the maids told me that my father was angry with me. I tried to ignore it but he came stumbling out, grabbed me by the arm, and pulled me into his office. I sat there for a long time listening to him drunkenly ramble about something... but then something changed...")

  She shook her head. ("I provoked him, I think... He had said something about my mother and I told him I was happy she was dead so that she wouldn't have to see how worthless he had become. It... was probably a pretty heartless thing to say, but I was also angry after hearing him scream at me for so long. He became enraged and attacked me with a knife that he kept on his desk...") She paused and continued to trace her fingers over her neck. ("There was so much blood... I managed to get out from under him, but he had already cut open my neck. I... don't remember much after that but I somehow managed to get out of the mansion and find Piper, who healed me and saved my life... After Maxwell found out what happened, we went back to the manor and he... killed him. I was so distraught that I used fire magic to burn the manor down and the three of us fled my hometown the next day... Before we left, I found out that all of the maids had gotten out safely and they thought that he had accidentally burned the manor down himself... we didn't stick around to find out what happened after that.")

  I reached over and took her hand. ("Luna... that sounds awful. I'm sorry you had to go through all of that... Do you think... they found out that it was Maxwell who killed him somehow?")

  I looked over at Maxwell. The idea of Maxwell killing someone like that... it both fit and didn't fit with the picture I had of him. I had never gotten the sense that he was the kind of person who would get so mad that he would go out of his way to kill someone... but he could also be so fiercely protective of his friends... I suppose I could imagine him killing someone who had permanently harmed one of his best friends... her father, no less.

  ("I'm... sorry I haven't told you about all of this sooner... I just didn't know how to bring it up... I should have told you when we were still in Fallow...") Luna said weakly.

  ("Why in Fallow?") I asked.

  Luna took a shaky breath. ("The lost halls... my version of that floor had me walk through the mansion and kill my father in his study. I've done it so many times by then that it felt... hollow. I wanted to tell you about it... my full past... but it was hard to bring something like that up while we were having so much fun together. And then the issue with the dungeon... It was too easy not to think about it anymore once we had gotten out of there.")

  I squeezed her hand. ("It's okay. It... sounds like a complicated situation, but I'm on your side... It sounded like the prick had it coming. He tried to murder you first.")

  ("Yeah...") Luna whispered through the rings.

  Truthfully, I was conflicted... I did believe Luna's side of the story, but... There was a difference in killing someone that was trying to kill you... and going back to kill them afterward. From the way she said it, Luna had nearly died that night. A little less luck and she would have been the one to die and he would have lived instead. If it hadn't been for Piper, Luna would have died, and Maxwell... went to make sure it never happened again...

  I sighed and shook my head. All of it was a bit hard to wrap my head around, but this was a harsher world than the one I came from. I wasn't sure about the laws of these towns and cities, but would her father have just gotten away with trying to kill her? Is that why Maxwell stepped in to make sure he couldn't do it again? It was really difficult for me to blame Maxwell for seeking revenge for my Luna after she had nearly died... The thought of her dying at the hands of her father almost made my rage bubble over too.

  I stared at the looming castle that got ever closer while these thoughts swirled in my head. Resolve hardened my heart. No, I would not blame Maxwell for protecting my love. It would be different if it were a murder in cold blood. I would choose to side with Maxwell on this one. Her father had tried to kill my Luna and took her voice from her. He deserved to die.

  Letting the rage that was building up inside of me settle, I took a deep breath and looked up at the castle ahead of us. If we were being led into the castle so that Maxwell and Luna could be blamed for her father's death, I would protect them. I will protect my pack and my Luna from them, even if I have to fight tooth and nail... and reveal my true nature here.

  I squeezed Luna's hand and hoped I was giving her some measure of comfort. I ran the thumb of my other hand along the braid of hair clipped to my armor. The six of us walked through a second portcullis today, but this one led into the behemoth of a castle built into the side of a mountain. I will protect my pack.

  Hello! Looks like the group may be in trouble. Wonder what's going to happen in the castle? It's kinda funny to reveal something to a character that the readers have known for a long time now. They never had any reason to talk about it until now and it's not something you'd usually like to admit. It shows how ride or die Helena is with her friends at this point though. She barely hesitated. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, see you next time! Thanks for reading!

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